


Crowded Table

by lmharmon



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:00:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25055830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmharmon/pseuds/lmharmon
Summary: At the request of Madi, Anne Bonny goes to Savannah to rescue James Flint and Thomas Hamilton from prison, only to discover that she doesn't actually need to.
Relationships: Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	Crowded Table

**1718**

**Savannah, Province of Georgia**

Anne is surprised at how small Savannah is, barely worthy of being called a town. Though it is clearly being used by wealthy plantation owners and merchants to exchange goods, based on the dress and speech of the other travelers she encounters in the port. Anne, in her pirate garb, receives a few strange looks, but no one says anything.

Anne asked a passing sailor where she could find the stables, and he directed her on a short walk from the port.

“Can I help you?” a gruff, older man asked almost as soon as she stepped inside.

“How much to rent a horse?” Anne asked.

“No renting, only buying,” the man said.

“Okay, how much to do that?”

“£5 for the cheapest one.”

Anne opened a sack of coin and pulled out the amount. She handed it to the man.

The man eyed the sack for a few moments, then at the cutlass attached to Anne’s belt. He seemed to decide against doing anything stupid. Instead, he went to a stall at the far end of the stable and guided out an older, bay-colored horse with streaks of grey and white on her face and lower legs. He brought the horse to Anne.

“As long as you’re not planning on riding all the way to Charles Town, she should do you well enough,” the man said.

“Can I get a saddle?” Anne asked.

The man gave her a greasy smile. “That’ll be another pound.”

Anne sighed and tossed it at him.

Once she’d saddled up, she asked, “Oglethorpe’s is just south of here, right?”

The man hesitated, furrowed his brow, “What would you want to go there for?”

“Is it or ain't it?” Anne pressed.

“It is,” the man said slowly.

“Thanks,” Anne said. With that, she rode out of the stable and headed toward her destination.

\---

It had been two years since Jack and Max had made the deal with Marion Guthrie in Philadelphia. At first, with Featherstone as the puppet governor for Max in Nassau, and Jack and Anne still secretly sailing under the black out of the port, it had seemed like everything was going to be okay.

That had lasted about a year. With continued crackdowns by both the English and the Spanish in the West Indies over high seas piracy, it was only a matter of time. Their ship was tracked down, attacked, and eventually boarded by an English privateer operating under the orders of the Governor of Jamaica. Anne, Jack, and Mary Read were taken into custody along with the rest of the crew. Shortly thereafter, they were tried and convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Because Anne and Mary had been pregnant at the time of capture, they were both granted stays of execution until they gave birth. They had had to watch helplessly as Jack and the others had been carted off to the gallows.

Some months later, Max had found a way to secure Anne and Mary’s release from prison, but it had been too late for Mary, who had died in childbirth, along with her baby. Anne and her own child, the sole survivors, had been secreted away to the Maroon Island, where Anne eventually developed a friendship with the Maroon Princess herself, Madi.

That led Anne to where she was now, on a horse on her way to a plantation to rescue a man she’d never particularly cared for, along with his lover. Because Madi had asked.

As Anne approached the gate to Oglethorpe’s, two guards in plain clothes with muskets walked up to meet her.

“I’m here to see Oglethorpe,” Anne said.

The men smiled politely up at her. “Oglethorpe doesn’t run this place anymore,” one of them said.

“Then can I speak with whoever does?” Anne asked.

The two men exchanged glances and seemed to communicate something silently to each other. They both nodded.

The men opened the gate for Anne and closed it behind her. One of the men, the one who had spoken, followed her through and led her and her horse up toward the plantation house.

Anne looked around her and frowned. Though she had not been on a plantation since she was a child, this place didn’t look like what she remembered. There were sprawling fields on either side of the entrance, to be sure, but farther back, beyond the plantation house, there seemed to be a lot of construction going on. Too many buildings for a plantation. It seemed almost like they were constructing... a town? And one larger than what Anne had seen at the port.

Once they reached the house, Anne dismounted and followed the guard inside. He led her into an office where a blond-haired man was sitting behind a desk, writing. He looked up when Anne and the guard entered. He looked at Anne curiously.

“She says she’s here to see Oglethorpe,” the guard said.

The man behind the desk nodded at him. “Thank you, Charles.”

Charles nodded back and left.

The blond man set down his quill and stood up. He extended his hand toward Anne and smiled at her. “I’m sure Charles has already told you, but James Oglethorpe is no longer responsible for this estate. But perhaps I can help you.”

Anne shook the man’s hand. “And who are you?”

“My name is Thomas Hamilton-”

“You’re Thomas Hamilton?” Anne asked. That was the name Madi had given her, of Flint’s lover. The other man she’d come here to rescue.

Thomas’ smile faltered slightly. “Yes.”

A few things clicked in Anne’s head. The unusual look the man at the stables had given her when she’d said where she was headed, the plain-clothed guards, the construction. Despite herself, Anne doubled over laughing.

When she was done, she took a seat in one of the chairs opposite Thomas. “You two took over this place, huh? How long did that take?”

Thomas sat back down and, clearly uncertain of what was going on, responded cautiously, “Mr. Oglethorpe bequeathed this place to me about two years ago.”

Anne snorted. “So right after he got here?”

“Uh-”

“What did you do with Oglethorpe? Is he buried out back somewhere?”

“No,” Thomas said firmly. “He is back in London. He has a lofty position within the British Army.”

“Uh-huh,” Anne said. “Well, Madi sent me here to rescue you and Flint. Looks like that was pointless.”

Immediately after Anne said Madi’s name, Thomas started to relax, accepting that this wasn’t some sort of strange deception. “And who might you be?” Thomas asked.

“Anne Bonny.”

Anne saw recognition in Thomas’ eyes. Either Flint had mentioned her at some point, or he’d heard other stories. He started to say something, but was interrupted by a young woman entering the room.

Sifting through a stack of papers, the woman did not immediately look up, “Thomas, I-” then she saw Anne. “Oh, sorry.”

“It’s alright, Abigail,” Thomas said. “Do you happen to know where James is?”

Abigail looked between Thomas and Anne, sensing that something was off. “Um, I think he’s in the meetinghouse.”

“Would you mind going and fetching him?” Thomas asked.

“Sure,” Abigail said, glancing once more between them before hurrying out.

“If you had needed to rescue James and I, you would’ve needed to get Miss Ashe, as well,” Thomas said, indicating the woman who had just left. “She’s a close friend.”

Abigail Ashe. Anne had heard that name before. She had been the “cargo” Vane had taken from Ned Low, the daughter of the former Governor of Carolina, who Vane had planned to ransom. But she had ended up on Flint’s ship...

Anne threw her head back and laughed again. “Wow, you really are one big happy family here, aren’t you?”

“We do have a bit of a crowded table, yes,” Thomas said, seeming pleased.

“Well, of all the people I thought might come here looking for me, I didn’t think it’d be you,” a familiar voice said behind Anne. She turned.

Flint stood just inside the door to the office, Abigail beside him. His head was no longer shaved. He’d let his hair grow back out and tied it back like he used to when Anne had first met him.

“Madi sent her here to rescue us,” Thomas explained.

Flint’s expression softened at that. “Madi.” He said the name with great affection.

A silence fell between the four of them, all of them uncertain with how to navigate this strange situation they’d found themselves in. 

Anne decided to interrupt it. “So, what is this place now, exactly? It’s not a prison.”

Thomas looked to Flint, as if asking permission to respond. Flint just shrugged. “No, it’s not a prison,” Thomas said. “It’s a town, of sorts. For those who are not necessarily welcomed or treated well by English rule. Criminals, escaped slaves...”

“You and Flint,” Anne finished.

Thomas glanced at Flint again. “Yes.”

Anne raised an eyebrow. “And no one’s stoppin’ you?”

It was Flint who answered this time. “Georgia isn’t a proper English colony, at least not yet. For now, it serves as a buffer between hostile Spanish colonies and Charles Town. As long as we aren’t openly antagonistic toward anyone, no one really cares what we’re doing, since we’re still technically acting as a buffer.”

Leave it to Flint to wind up in prison and somehow still come out the victor.

Anne stood up. “Right. I’ll leave you to it, then.” She made to leave.

“Wait,” Thomas said. Anne turned back.

“Would we still be able to go with you? Just to visit?” Thomas asked. “I would very much like to meet Madi.”

“I don’t think that’s-” Flint started.

“You should go,” Abigail interrupted. “I can take care of things here.”

Thomas gave Flint a close-lipped smile, as if he thought he had won something. Flint rolled his eyes, though he was smiling, too. “Alright,” he said.

All three of them looked at Anne.

Anne sighed. “Meet me at the port in the mornin’. Don’t be late.”


End file.
